


There are no such things as ghosts

by ScarletPrincess



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: DA Halloween, F/M, Ghosts, Halloween Special, Haunted Houses, Humor, Varric has a plan, dragon age halloween week, get spooky, skeptical Hawke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 14:36:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12509632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletPrincess/pseuds/ScarletPrincess
Summary: ‘There are no such things as ghosts’, she asserted decidedly, ‘and not even the two of you could sell me that mumbo jumbo.’Hawke has very strong opinion about ghosts, and her favorite pair of rogue just want to prove her wrong





	There are no such things as ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3 of dahalloween: demons, spirits, ghosts and possessions… good and evil collide on the third day of the week, and your favorite characters find themselves trapped in the middle. are they stuck in the fade? were they struck by a spooky vision, haunted, or do they wind up being at the mercy of a desire demon?

‘There are no such things as ghosts’, she asserted decidedly, ‘and not even the two of you could sell me that mumbo jumbo.’ 

The three of them were sitting at their usual spot at The Hanged Man, boozin’ and havin’ a few laughs. There weren’t many patrons left and Merrill had fallen asleep four beers ago, leaving Hawke, Isabela and Varric in a very agitated discussion about the existence of ghosts. The pirate and the dwarf were in agreement, while Hawke refused categorically to admit ghosts were real. Spirits, demonic possession, Revenant: yes. But ghosts? Nope. Ghosts were but a tale invented by exhausted parents to mildly scare children and get them to sleep on moonless nights without scarring them for life with stories of actual evil. 

‘So you’re telling me you’re fine with the fade, darkspawn and all the shit we saw in the deep roads but ghost are a no go?’, Varric asked.

‘Yup. I had to draw a line somewhere and ghosts didn’t make the cut.’

‘How do you know they don’t exist?’ The dwarf insisted.

‘Have you ever seen one?’ Hawke shot back.

‘No, but until last week I had never seen a dragon either, let alone killed one.’

‘That’s different. There’s nothing remotely realistic about dead people coming back to haunt the living. Dragons on the other hand, they’re just beasts, beasts I can kill.’

‘So you wouldn’t have an issue spending a whole night alone in a haunted house provided we found you one.’ Isabela challenged. 

Hawke shifted her attention back to her favorite pirate and grinned. 

‘Provided you found a haunted house – which you won’t cause ghosts aren’t real – sure, bring it on.’

‘Deal.’ 

*** 

A few hours later and considerably drunker, Marian Hawke found herself standing in front of Fenris’ door. It had been Isa’s idea that she spend the night at his place, and she wasn’t sure if she really felt comfortable with it. 

‘Why Fenris’ house?’

‘It’s so stereotypically creepy,’ Isabela started while gesturing at the house, ‘I’m pretty sure if there’s ghosts in town they all settled in that place. Besides, the elf won’t be back for a few days so you’ll have the place all to yourself.’

‘Well, you’ll have to share with the ghosts’ Varric added.

‘Haha, very funny. Now go away.’

‘You’re sure?’ The dwarf taunted. ‘You can still admit you’re scared, and we can all go home and call it a night.’

‘I’m perfectly fine thank you. Now will you go? I’m tired and I want to sleep in this ghostless house.’ 

As if on cue, a half broken blind slammed against the façade of the mansion making Marian jump out of her own skin and reach for her daggers while Varric burst into laughter. 

‘You were saying?’ Isabela teased

‘It’s just the stupid wind,’ Hawke shot back. ‘Go away.’

‘Okay okay’ she replied with both arms raised in sign of surrender, ‘sleep well pumpkin.’ 

As Marian opened the front door she heard the pair laughing and Varric muttering a small ‘ _She’ll never make it_ ’. 

‘I will’ she shouted as she slammed the door with vigor. 

Of course she would make it! Hell, she could spend a whole week alone in here. Ghosts weren’t real, she had been at Fenris’ place plenty of times before and she was pretty sure the only things she had to worry about were not being eaten by rats and finding a place to sleep. She was going to win this bet. 

***

Her steps echoed throughout the empty hall as she made her way towards what had once been a beautiful double staircase. The house was dark and a ‘no torch rule’ had been part of the deal, making it difficult for her to see where she was stepping; the pale moon was her only source of light and for once she was happy Fenris never changed the ripped curtains. Carefully, she entered the first guest room and studied her surroundings as best she could, quickly spotting a bed on the left side of the chamber. 

‘I’m pretty sure someone died on that bug nest’ she muttered to herself. 

If the stale smell was any indication, the room hadn’t been used nor cleaned in years, and she could swear there was questionable residue on the ground. There was always the option of sleeping in Fenris bed – that room at least had to be clean – but she wasn’t sober enough to prevent herself from spending the night sniffing his sheets and didn’t want to admit she was that desperate. Resigned, Hawke climbed on the bed, covered herself with the blanket she had brought and closed her eyes. Silence filled the room and soon her breathing was the only noise she could hear. It felt unnatural and uncomfortable. Her own manor always resonated with Orana’s singing or Sandal’s ‘ _enchantment_!’, and only now did she realize how much they had become a part of her life and how alone she truly felt. 

Alone and maybe a bit scared… 

Nonsense! She was just drunk and uncomfortable. She wasn’t scared, there was nothing to be scared of! Then why was her heart thumping so loudly? And was that a creak she just heard coming from the first floor? Hawke cursed herself for being so silly. She had let Varric and Isa’s inanity get to her head and now her very inebriated brain was conjuring noises that didn’t exist. Stupid dwarf, stupid pirate and stupid bet! Still, Hawke listened carefully to the sound of the house and tried to reason with her overly imaginative brain. It was an old mansion, and the wood floor, like the rest of the house, had seen better days. Surely such ancient floor would creak every once in a while. That was a rational way of thinking, one that didn’t involve ghosts. There was nothing paranormal going on, just an old house with an old floor. 

As the place fell silent again, Hawke willed herself back to sleep and shut her eyes once more. The house wasn’t haunted, and she was the only person in this goddamn mansion. Except now, she could hear footsteps. Ghosts didn’t have footsteps, did they? They were rather silent creatures? Oh maker, now she was starting to question not only the existence of ghosts but whether or not they made noise while they walk. 

This was stupid. _She_ was stupid. The only ghosts haunting her were a pirate and a dwarf, trying to win a stupid bet. Well she wasn’t about to be tricked. Silently she slid out of the bed, debated with herself whether to take her daggers and finally decided not to, her friends just wanted to scare her, not to cause her harm. She made her way towards the entrance of the room, opened the door gingerly and waited to see if anyone would barge in. Nothing. The house was still. She then proceeded to investigate further and slowly walked down the dark hallway. As she passed Fenris’ room, the door cracked open and before she could react, a lean shadow jumped out at her. She couldn’t stop herself from shrieking but managed to avoid being caught by her attacker. She cursed herself for not taking her daggers and tried to avoid another offensive but the shadow moved so quickly she could barely keep up. She was left defending herself more than attacking and was soon backed down into Fen’s chamber. She looked around to find a weapon and spotted a table lamp. If she was about to go down, she would go swinging. Hawke tried to reach for the lamp but before she could do anything she found herself pinned on the ground by the mysterious shadow. She heard a loud thud as her head hit the floor and groaned. Her assailant was preventing her from moving, leaving her helpless and vulnerable to the final blow that was soon to come. Had the situation been less desperate, she would have laughed at the absurdity of it all. _This_ was how the tale of Marian Hawke would end: killed by a shadow in a haunted house. No doubt Varric would write a fucking book about it. 

‘Hawke?’ a familiar voice asked. 

Marian opened her eyes and recognition washed over her face as she found herself staring at emerald eyes and a mop of silver hair: the murderous shadow, still pinning her to the ground, was in fact, a very naked Fenris. 

‘Fen?’ she asked in surprise. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I live here. What are _you_ doing here?’

‘I… You weren’t supposed to be back yet and…’ Marian bit her lips unsure as to how she was supposed to word her answer. ‘Well, we had this conversation about ghosts and Varric and Isa kept insisting they exist and I disagreed so they dared me to spend a night alone in a haunted house.’

‘And you ended up at my house because…?’ he probed.

‘Well you know: spider webs, broken windows, pretty sure there’s a rotten corpse somewhere…’ Fenris raised an eyebrow. ‘It was Isa’s idea.’ She concluded quickly as to get herself off the hook.

‘Ok, I’ll bite. Why were you sneaking in the hall?’

‘I thought… I thought you were a ghost.’ 

Fenris burst into laughter, the thundering sounds echoing in the empty house and filling the place with warmth. His laugh vibrated thought her chest, making her acutely aware of how close they were and of the heat radiating from his naked skin. 

‘It’s not funny.’ She pouted.

‘Pretty sure it is.’ he chuckled softly. 

She knew he was right but she was too ashamed to admit it. Instead she looked at him insistently, hoping he’d let her go but he wouldn’t move. 

‘Would you let go of me now?’ She finally asked.

‘Why would I do that.’

‘You’re naked.’

‘Yes,’ he replied with a wolfish grin. ‘Sadly you’re not’

‘I suppose that can be arranged.’ 

*** 

 _A few days earlier_  

‘My dear Rivaini, did you know Broody sleeps in the nude?’

‘Why do I have a feeling this is about more than Fenris’ sleeping habits?’

‘I’m glad you ask. See, I have a plan to help Hawke and Broody finally get it on. We just need to…’


End file.
